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{
    "id": 1522122,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1522122/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 128,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": "I believe that this country has immense potential. It can achieve great things that many people would admire to live, work and thrive in. However, corruption, among other things, holds it back. However, I believe the rest are subsets. The biggest challenge we continue to face as a nation is corruption. When EACC wrote to our Justice, Legal Affairs, and Human Rights Committee and made their proposals, I am glad that you listened to them as a committee. I am even happier that at the mediation stage, many of the views that they felt did not agree with the amendments that we had done on the Floor of this House were either dropped or moderated to get the view of what EACC wants and also how our colleagues from the National Assembly perceived that particular matter. Therefore, before us, we have a report that deals with all the controversial 88 clauses, things which we have touched on here and there. The thinking at that particular time of the Senate is that we felt that there was a lot of repetition of the Ethics and Anti- Corruption Act, leadership, and integrity. There were so many Acts that were trying to do the same thing. Therefore, many of the deletions that the Senate did at that particular time were actually aimed at streamlining so that we give EACC a cleaner document upon which they can refer and ensure that they save us as a country. Therefore, I am happy that today we are discussing the mediated version. I know our colleagues in the National Assembly have concluded this exercise. It is only we who are remaining so that once we conclude this particular exercise, hopefully, as soon as we pass it, it can be assented into law. I hope that by Tuesday next week, Members will be available in the House so that we can pass this particular report and proceed to do other things. On Tuesday this week, I had breakfast with an 83-year-old lady. She is of Swedish descent but has lived in Kenya for the last 44 years. She is actually more Kenyan than I am because I have not seen that number of years in this country. She knows more about my country. She told me a sad story, and I left the breakfast table particularly disturbed. This lady works in affordable housing and has been here working on United Nations (UN) programmes and so on. She reminded me that when the international bodies began this conversation on the need for decent homes for the poor, especially in urban areas, back in the early 80s, a fund was created. Many African nations, after struggling with how to set it up, collected quite a substantial amount, and they did projects in various African countries. However, that programme did not take off after some point. Therefore, it was resolved at the final meeting – I forgot the exact name of that particular fund – that the member countries carry on the programme through their budgetary support and proceed. It was passed also that the assets that had been reviewed or received from that particular programme should be passed on to the members of the public. She told me that there are only two African countries which did not transfer those assets to their Government. They ended up in the pockets of the programme officers. Burundi was at war at that time. So that we can classify it as a war-torn country at that particular time, and your guess is as good as mine: Kenya. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}